


you ain't nothin but a hound dog

by travelingsymphony



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Angst, Crack, Established Relationship, Eventual Happy Ending, Halloween, Humor, LET ME SAY IT AGAIN IN ALL CAPS: CRACK, M/M, chan is stupid and confused, felix swears a fuckton (pun intended), fluff will definitely be tagged in the future, it’s spooky season boys, tags to be possibly changed/updated, the angst wasn't on purpose i swear
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:13:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27117304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/travelingsymphony/pseuds/travelingsymphony
Summary: Chan feels something go through him like a flash flood. It starts in his gut and reaches to his throat within a second. The feeling of the blanket leaving the palm of his hands releases a burst of anxiety that he has never felt before. At least not like this.How dare Felix take the same blanket that was keeping him safe from the little psycho clown girl. He had to protect it, he had tofightfor it. It was— no, itishis blanket and he needs to back. He needs it back now.So Chan does the only logical thing he can think of and well, he growls.(Or, a crash course on stupid supernatural “family traditions” would’ve saved Chan a whole lot of… everything).
Relationships: Bang Chan/Lee Felix
Comments: 1
Kudos: 30





	you ain't nothin but a hound dog

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> full disclosure, this whole story came from my beta and me sitting in my car during traffic talking about how there is going to be a full moon on halloween this year... fast forward to me laying in bed that night thinking: _felix would definitely say wolf boy makes me go ‘brrr’._
> 
> enjoy lmfao.
> 
> (there are **possible triggers** in this chapter so i'm gonna put them in the end notes 'cause they are also spoilers uwu).

  


  


_October 31st, Halloween_

  


  


**10:26**

Chan wakes up to the feeling of sweat dripping down his face. 

The sun shines through his blinds softly, the autumn light is serene and muted causing his mess of a bedroom to glow a dusty bronze. Chan smiles with his eyes partially closed, clearly the warmth he is feeling may be enough for him to be borderline overheated.

But he thinks it’s worth it for the time being. 

He turns his head to the side and pats the bedding down to try and find something of value. Mostly he is trying to find the thing that is causing all the heat anyway, but feels nothing. Chan cracks an eye open and notices how he is mostly alone in the covers which is odd, he could’ve sworn… 

“Like I love you and all but please for the love of God stop making noise.” A mumble comes up from the far corner of bed that is pushed right up next to the wall. Chan pulls up the comforter just enough to see exactly what he was searching for, more like who. 

Felix blinks at him with tired eyes, his face is scrunched up and he looks a little grumpier than usual, must be the hangover. But maybe it’s because the sunlight is directly in the younger’s eyes but Chan pays no mind.

“Good morning!” Chan beams before he rolls over to Felix who is still curled against the cold wall. He grabs onto the younger and pulls him into his chest, Felix snorts as Chan gets comfortable, the older hooks his chin onto the latter’s shoulder and snuggles into him. 

“ _Jesus fuck_ you are hot.” Felix comments. He mindlessly starts to pet at Chan’s hands and honestly, Chan does everything but keen at the touch. 

“Starting the day off with compliments, that is suspiciously kind of you.” The older says. He notices Felix is almost cold to the touch which brings him back to square one.

 _Why do I feel like a match freshly lit?_

“You wish, but no. You are actually really hot, are you sure you’re feeling well?” 

Felix turns around in Chan’s embrace. He moves both his hands to the older’s face and cups his cheeks. If Chan’s face wasn’t red before it is definitely red now (for all the wrong reasons). He lets Felix put the back of his hand on his forehead and sits patiently. 

“I really do feel fine, honestly I thought you koala-ed on to me and that’s why I was feeling so warm.” Chan says calmly as if he was letting sleep take a hold of him once more. Felix always has that effect on him; the peace you almost get with silence. 

“Wrapped around you? As if, if anything it’s _you_ that is wrapped around _me._ ” Felix points to how Chan is holding him with a tilt of his head and smirk on his lips. Chan laughs way too loud, he tries to hide his head under the covers but Felix pulls the older’s face up to his.

And really, Felix shouldn’t be giving Chan That Look if he doesn’t want to be eaten in a blink of an eye… wait, what— 

“Not like you ever had a choice to not be wrapped around my little fingers.” The younger whispers before pulling Chan into a teasing kiss. 

Chan’s mind blanks the moment their lips meet, whatever thought he had about eating Felix had to be a joke anyway. It was normal for people to think that, it’s just a metaphor right? You know, like I could just eat you up? Grandmas say that all the time while pinching your cheeks. 

It’s just like the stupid metaphor made in _The Fault in Our Stars_ about the cigarettes and shit. Definitely just like that. 

Felix’s arms rest around his neck, his fingers play with his hair and pull just hard enough for Chan to groan. He can feel his fingernails move, scratching at his bare shoulders probably leaving tiny pink lines down as he goes. Chan hums into the younger’s mouth and enjoys the way their noses gently bump together as their kiss deepens. 

And like always, it doesn’t take too long for Felix to want more. He hitches one of his legs around Chan’s thigh and pushes himself onto the older. They break away from each other for a moment and Chan lets himself admire Felix’s cherry-tinted lips for a little too long. 

Chan starts to mouth under the younger’s jaw and moves slowly down his neck. Felix’s skin is warming up under his touch and it sends a weird feeling down Chan’s spine, but he ignores it and lets the younger rock against him. 

Just when Chan thought he was going to stop this from getting too heated (he really needs to go take a piss) his hands instead find purchase on the younger’s ass. This causes Felix to moan out a broken noise when he is pushed down _just right_ against the older’s thigh. 

_Okay what’s going on,_ Chan thinks as he sucks at the juncture of Felix’s neck and shoulder. 

He swears to God that he can feel Felix’s blood rushing just under the skin. The heat of it is almost unbearable, it’s like he can smell it, like he can _taste it._ Chan feels this almost electric pulse zap him from head to toe and oh my God, if he could just get a bite— 

“No patience today you frickin menace— _wait, ow!_ Chris, what the actual fuck man?”

Suddenly Chan is unlocking his jaw and moving away from Felix as if it was the younger who did something wrong. His mouth feels sore like he got punched purple and blue. There is this God awful metal taste on his tongue too. He watches Felix as he places a shaky hand down on his neck. When he pulls it away, it comes up red with blood. 

_Holy shit, I fucking bit him?_

They stare at his hand for a second before Chan rips himself out of bed. He finds a spare towel on the ground and throws it on the bed before crawling back on, staying a foot away from Felix… just in case. 

The younger thanks him quietly and places the towel down on his throat. The bite didn’t look awful, but it is red and you know, bad enough that it drew fucking blood. Like Chan actually bit the fuck out of him, not even in a kinky way. 

But in a ‘I’m going feral’ kind of way. Which is sort of kinky when you think about it, but that is besides the point. 

“Don’t look at me like I’m your puppy that you just accidently ran over, it won’t kill me Monkey Man.” Felix’s voice takes Chan out of his own head; he didn’t even realize he was stuck in it. 

But now that he is out of it: 

“I’m so sorry, I have no clue what happened! Honest! You know I would never—” _“Yes Chan I know.”_

“—do that on purpose. I cannot even believe I did it in the first place—” _“It’s okay.”_

“—please don’t call the cops on me or something, you know I can’t get anything on my record or my job at the new music shop will be shot to shit—” _“Babe, calm down.”_

“—and you know I love you? Like _a lot,_ a lot so please don’t throw me to the—” 

_“Chris, stop.”_

“—dogs.” When Chan finishes, his chest is racing up and down as if he just ran a marathon.

Felix looks at him with a soft smile. His eyes are kind, as always, and Chan feels like he can take in a deep breath without choking on his own insecurities for a moment. Chan grabs Felix’s hand and kisses the back of it, causing the younger to roll his eyes. 

“It’s really fine, I’ll just have a gnarly hickey and you will just have to take a verbal beating from Jisung.” Felix laughs while Chan moans at the thought. 

Jisung is going to see that and kill him via one embarrassing comment after the other. 

Chan moves forward enough to put his forehead on Felix’s chest. It’s a little uncomfortable because they are both sitting up criss-crossed, but it happens nevertheless. Felix pets Chan’s hair down and they sit there for a couple minutes until Chan remembers he still needs to piss. 

He kisses the top of Felix’s head when he gets up. The younger’s neck has already stopped bleeding so he takes the towel from Felix’s now still hands. Chan watches him lay back down and cuddle under the sheets, bringing the older’s heart down with him. 

“Hey, didn’t you shave last night?” Felix asks randomly. Chan puts the back of his hand on his chin and rubs it. 

“I did,” _why does it feel like I haven’t shaved in weeks?_ “I guess I missed some spots?” 

“Make sure to shave again, last thing I want is beard burn in between my thighs.” Felix winks at him then scrunches his nose in a way that is too cute for Chan to possibly survive. The older feels his face light up red again and he mumbles that he will be right back. 

By now, this is just a normal-ish morning for the two of them. Normal enough.

  


  


**11:17**

So it took every part of Chan to hold himself back from lifting his leg up when he was taking his piss. 

It was… odd. No, _it was weird._ Like really weird. Chan, not once in his life (he would swear on a Bible if believed in God) has ever had the urge to lift his leg up mid-piss. 

And he actually had a physical reaction to it. He felt off balance, like the world was tilting sideways and he was the only thing still trying to stand straight. He even had to put a hand on the wall next to him to keep himself from falling face first into the toilet. His leg shook too, his right knee felt unusually weak and acted like it was cracking underneath his body weight. Which has also never happened before. 

It was easily one of the weirdest experiences he has ever had in his entire life and that is saying a lot because the memory of freshman year still exists loud and way too proud.

Note to self from freshman year: don’t dye your hair green, you’ll regret it immediately. 

Now Chan is just sitting on the toilet lid, staring up at the popcorn crusted ceiling. The hand-held thermometer (that he never thought would be useful) sits idly on the sink counter and he is pointedly ignoring it. It has to be broken because there is no way that the temperature it is showing is real. 

Because if he actually has a fever this hot, he would’ve been dead before sunrise. Or at least close to it. 

And like he has already said, he does feel fine. Sure his balance is a little off and he keeps sweating through his clothes like a demon in the middle of a church service. But he feels good, if not more alive than he usually does. 

That doesn’t stop the fact that he wanted to lift his leg up while going to the bathroom as if he was some kind of dog or something. 

He shakes his head at the thought. _A dog?_ No way, if anything he was still riding off the highs of last night’s drinks. Chan has definitely had weird reactions to tequila before and he really shouldn’t be so surprised for what follows the mornings after. 

Standing up, Chan walks a couple short steps to face the mirror head on. He turns his chin left and right to see how much he missed shaving the day before. His eyes focus on the spots near his sideburns that seem way too long, it looks like he has never shaved a day in his life. 

_Huh, I look like Wolverine,_ Chan thinks and goes to pose as if he was. After a quick moment of him making a complete ass out of himself, he picks up his razor from the decorative cup sitting next to the faucet. 

Chan carefully shaves his face, the thick cream tickles his nose like usual and makes him sneeze once. This time, he makes sure to shave all areas so his face is smooth and spotless. He does remember not really taking the necessary time to shave yesterday due to running late to meet up with the rest of the guys. So he brushes off the weird hairy spots as him not paying enough attention. 

He pats his face dry with his towel and sees his clear skin once more. Chan smiles to himself, happy that his face doesn’t feel like a cactus anymore. 

_No more beard burn for Felix._

Chan finishes getting ready for the day with his usual teeth-brushing and face moisturizing routine. When he looks in the mirror for the last time, he notices how his skin seems to be so much brighter. He looks like he was dipped in Egyptian gold with how vibrant his skin tone seems to be. 

Maybe it’s because he actually got a good night’s rest. God knows he needed one and the ‘naps’ he had been taking at the studio earlier in the week weren’t cutting it. 

_You look like a ghost and I really don’t want the dude paying the energy bills to croak over, _Felix said a couple days ago and maybe he was right (he was absolutely right).__

__“If I keep looking like this then maybe I will sleep in a bed more often.” Chan mumbles to himself as he turns the bathroom light off and leaves with a metaphorical pep in his step._ _

__When Chan reaches the living room, he notices Felix’s absence quickly and assumes the younger is still in bed. Chan thinks about making breakfast and bringing it to him, but finds himself unappealed to every food at the moment._ _

__Chan doesn’t pay mind to his appetite, while it is quite large after not having anything since yesterday afternoon, he doesn’t want his usual cereal or if he is in a fancy mood, pancakes. Honestly, he sort of wants bacon or sausage. Maybe even a full on steak._ _

___Whatever, maybe we can go out before the party tonight,_ Chan sits down on the couch and turns on the tv. He notices that the _Halloween_ movies are playing all-day and soon finds himself getting overly invested in the 4th one. _ _

__Felix finds Chan like this: curled into a ball with a blanket in his hands, half of his face is covered as he cowards away from the screen. Felix turns his head to the tv to see the perspective on someone wearing a mask and oh— yeah, someone being stabbed._ _

__A chill does go down the younger’s spine when the person wearing the mask ends up being a little girl, no older than 9 dressed in a clown costume. She looks lost, as if something else took over her, something sinister._ _

__While Felix shakes the shivers away, Chan gasps loudly as the screen fades to black allowing the credits to start rolling._ _

__“No! They just can’t end it like that! What about Myers? The whole point was to get her away from him so she _wouldn’t_ do that. Fucking stupid, oh my God.” Chan groans, kicking the one foot that isn’t tucked underneath his blanket against the couch. _ _

__He realizes Felix is in the room a second later, staring at him with a small hand over his mouth. He is clearly laughing at him but Chan doesn’t mind. Instead he waves his arms for Felix to come sit down next to (on) him. The younger sleepily makes his way to the couch and plops down with a tiny grunt._ _

__“If you think I am getting anywhere near you, you are wrong. I don’t want a furnace right on top of me.” Felix says while pawing to get the blanket from Chan. He lets out a sound of victory when the fabric finally makes its way out of the older’s fingers._ _

__Chan feels something go through him like a flash flood. It starts in his gut and reaches to his throat within a second. The feeling of the blanket leaving the palm of his hands releases a burst of anxiety that he has never felt before. At least not like this._ _

__How dare Felix take the same blanket that was keeping him safe from the little psycho clown girl. He had to protect it, he had to _fight_ for it. It was— no, it _is_ his blanket and he needs to back. He needs it back now. _ _

__So Chan does the only logical thing he can think of and well, he growls._ _

__The sound is low, but it vibrates through his whole body. Chan is pretty sure if someone put a hand on his chest, they would feel it in their bones. Felix just stares at him before gently handing the blanket back to him. The second the fabric is back in Chan’s hands, the noise stops._ _

__And the world is quiet, the _Halloween_ theme song plays in the background like a sinister lullaby and Chan feels like the world is swallowing him whole. _ _

__“Did you just… growl?” Felix asks and Chan just, stares. Because yeah, he did just growl like a—_ _

__Okay so maybe he just needs more than one good night’s rest. Yeah, that has to be it._ _

__Right?_ _

  


  


**12:05**

“I think I’ll call the doctor… or something.” Chan admits, but not completely in defeat. 

More like he should go to the doctor, if that means Felix would look at him again. 

_Halloween 5_ started playing only a couple minutes ago and Felix is watching it intensely. Chan thinks it is to deter him from trying to talk because he has this face right now that just screams: _if you even try to get a single word out, I’ll growl back at you._ Which is fair, but not really what Chan is looking for at the moment. 

_But I mean, yeah. I did just growl at him so it would only be fair if he did too,_ Chan ponders. It really isn’t too hard to believe that his boyfriend isn’t at least somewhat pissed off at him. 

“I don’t know, maybe ringing up the vet would be a better option.” Felix mumbles under his breath, all huffy and puffy. He has his arms wrapped around himself like he is personally fending off the cold. Chan knows he is doing it to make him feel bad for _not_ letting him have the blanket. 

So Chan thumbs the red and black checkered fabric one last time. It was a Christmas gift from Felix’s mom last year. The two of them went and visited Australia for a couple weeks during the summer months and it was fun, it was _hot._ Much warmer than what Chan feels right now. 

It was the first time he had met Felix’s parents and it went as well as it possibly could. Well enough to still receive a gift from the younger’s parents clearly. A gift wrapped in cotton to keep their sweet boy (and his boyfriend) safe from the cold winters. 

A gift that Chan wants to give back right now. Mostly out of embarrassment, but kinda out of shame as well. 

He pulls the blanket out from under his legs. Even though he feels his body demand for the blanket to be pressed into his skin again, he drapes it over Felix. The younger looks up with him with a side eye, still visibly pissed about what happened ten minutes ago. Or maybe just pissed about the whole day in general. 

But there is color back on his cheek bones so Chan knows he isn’t completely in the doghouse; however, God knows he is at least slightly in it, he did bite him earlier today after all. 

“Thanks.” Felix whispers with the tiniest of smiles on his face. Chan smiles back and goes to the other side of the couch. 

They continue to sit in silence and to make it less painful, Chan tries to get into the 5th movie, but can’t really get over the fact that it sucks. It was a matter of time though, what movie franchise has a good sequel, let alone a bearable 5th one? Not like the 4th movie was any good either, _and._

It’s when Chan sees it got a 13% on _Rotten Tomatoes_ he lets out a laugh that is loud enough to startle Felix.

“I cannot believe that this shit was even made.” Chan giggles. He leans over to show Felix his phone, the younger grabs it from him and laughs lightly at all the shitty reviews it was given from critics and audiences alike. 

“It was doomed from the start when the writers decided to put a child into a mental hospital.” Felix says while angrily waving his free hand towards the tv. 

Chan agrees, even though the little girl is probably insane, there is something so off-putting watching a child just be basically detained all alone in a mental institution. 

There is a part of Chan that is overjoyed that the movie is horseshit though because Felix is starting to move closer to him. Their shoulders are barely brushing together as they laugh about the movie’s stupid plot points yet cringing together whenever gore appears on the screen.

Soon enough Chan is able to take Felix’s hand in his without feeling like he would be pushing boundaries. His fingers are cool, but his palm is slightly warmer. They still feel like ice in his own hands, but it is nice to just have Felix close to him again. Even if he was just a few feet away. 

“Not angry at me anymore?” Chan asks in a murmur. He plays with Felix’s hands, from his knuckles all the way to his fingertips, causing the younger to laugh even brighter than before. 

“I was never angry, but when I said you should call a vet I really wasn’t kidding.” Felix responds as he gazes at the older with an almost bored look on his face. 

“I haven’t done a single animal related thing in like, an hour. If anything I’ll call my parents because even if we did go to the doctor explaining that I’m having animal behavioral issues, we will be sent to a BDSM ring or something.” _And I cannot even start to imagine what a place like that would be like on Halloween._

Chan has a full-body shiver at the tip-of-the-iceberg thought. 

“Nah, he would just send you to the same mental hospital that the girl is in. Maybe you guys can be roomies.” Felix taunts with a playful smirk. 

It is enough for Chan to tackle him onto the couch. He places his fingers right where it will hurt Felix the most, making him gasp out for breath as he gets tickled to death. Chan’s thighs bracket the younger’s hips as he pins him down. He lets Felix take a couple deep breaths in before going back and destroying his sides once more. 

“St-stop it! Chan! Please please _please,_ you win _you win!_ ” 

Chan finally sits back on his heels and watches Felix’s chest rise and fall as he tries to gather more air in his lungs. He smiles as the younger throws his head back onto the cushions and sighs out. 

“I really am sorry about today, I don’t know what’s gotten into me.” Chan confessions while scratching the back of his head. His hand almost struggles to get into his curls for some reason, but his fingers finally do touch his scalp, huh. 

“If you think some weird ass behavior from you is anything new to me, you must be crazy,” Felix looks up to make half-assed eye contact. “Honestly, you’d think I would be more used to it after the two years we’ve been dating. And yet you surprise me everyday.”

“Oh light of my life, are you going to accept my apology or not.” Chan raises an eyebrow as he waits for an answer. 

“Touchy touchy, yeah. Apology accepted or whatever, maybe I thought you growling was hot.” 

“You didn’t.” 

“I didn’t.” Felix bluntly agrees, but instead of pushing Chan off like the older expected, he actually brings him closer. Chan lays down (read: falls) on top of Felix; he makes sure his weight isn’t completely on him though as that could possibly suffocate his toothpick of a boyfriend. 

“You promise you’ll call someone though, if it gets… weirder.” Felix speaks again, but this time his voice is muffled in Chan’s chest. Honestly, he is impressed he even understood what the younger said, but he did… somehow. 

“Yeah of course.” 

And sure, Felix doesn’t know the undeniable urge Chan has right now to lift his leg up to scratch behind his ear. Or the headache that is slowly growing at his temples and beating him to death like a pair of snare drums. But those things aren’t necessarily weirder from what Chan has already been doing. 

_It’s just an urge,_ Chan thinks as he scratches behind his ear with his hand, not his leg. _Nothing more, nothing less. Everyone gets urges._

“Can you stop shaking your foot babe? It’s moving the whole couch.” Felix asks while putting his attention back on to the horrible movie in front of them. 

_Oh fuck._

  


  


**13:34**

His headache has gotten worse. 

Remember when he said it was already beating him to death like, quote on quote: a pair of snare drums?

Yeah so if you multiply that by 100 then add a whole middle school brass section on top of it then you are definitely getting closer to what Chan’s head feels like right now. Which is less than ideal. 

Chan gets up for the millionth time during a commercial break (they are so long that he could probably take a quick nap during one). He brings his water bottle that he got the first time he got up with him and tucks it against his side to go fill it up for the third time. 

Maybe he’s just dehydrated? He hasn’t had any water since yesterday and he drank his whole body weight in booze last night so it wouldn’t be so far fetched. 

But if he really was then he should already be feeling better after the first two giant things of water he drained. They sit almost heavy in his stomach, like all the water in the world is sitting in his body refusing to be absorbed. 

_More water couldn’t hurt though,_ Chan thinks as he leans against the fridge. The water dispenser is as fast as a drip line and with a killer headache that seems to only get worse, the only option Chan has if he wants to stay standing straight is to lean against anything in reach. 

Once his water bottle is full, Chan stands up on his own and almost stumbles over. It reminds him of the migraine he once got, how fast it came on and how useless he felt (was) during it. How the whole right side of his body seemed to be sliding into oblivion. How he really thought he was having a stroke at the age 23. 

Even with that memory burnt into his skull, this headache still feels different from that. This one feels almost brought on by something bigger than stress, something completely out of his control. Great. 

Chan takes in a deep breath and tries to figure out how to not look like a mess in front of Felix. He really doesn’t want the younger to worry more than he already is. And God does he want to go to the party tonight, something as small as this headache won’t stop him from seeing Felix dressed up as an angel. 

Then it hits him, metaphorically and almost physically. 

“Hey Felix, do you want anything to eat?” Chan asks facing away from the living room. He can hear (how???) Felix turns around to look into the kitchen. 

“Now that you mention it, yeah. Do you wanna order something in or—”

“I can make something!” Chan says with as much cheer as he can. His voice raises a little and it causes a whole body throb to shoot through him. He squints his eyes together and tries to figure out which way is up compared to down. 

“Really? But you hate cooking, I can make something if you want me to.” Felix is so fucking kind it makes Chan want to claw out his own heart sometimes. 

“Nah I got it, pinky swear to not burn down the apartment. Breakfast?” _Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes—_

“Yeah that sounds good, make sure the scrambled eggs are still runny.” And Felix turns back around, settles into the couch, and even mumbles to himself: _I hate dry eggs._

It’s like sensory overload, the way Chan can pick up on every sound, every color, every movement. He can hear the neighbor yelling at someone for not picking up their dog’s shit, a car siren is going off one— no, _two_ blocks away. 

He can even hear the squawking of the birds that are still flying south for the warm air as if they were in the apartment, right next to him. 

But it all stops when he takes a breath in so that’s exactly what he does. And cooking, he starts that because no way in hell is he backing away from it now.

When Felix and he first moved in together, the younger had to give Chan a crash course in cooking so he could sustain himself with something better than stove top ramen. They started with eggs and Chan could proudly say that he was now the egg connoisseur of the household. 

He focuses on beating the eggs properly, adding just the right amount of salt and pepper before pouring them into the hot skillet. Chan moves to the pan of bacon he started a couple minutes before the eggs and gets it all crisp, just the way he likes it. 

Honestly, he prefers his bacon burnt but Felix won’t eat it that way so crispy will just have to do. 

By putting all his energy towards making food, Chan’s attention to his headache lessens. His shoulders start to relax and he feels like he is coming back into his body after vanishing off to some foreign place. 

After a couple more minutes, Chan has a pile of food in front of him. He makes a plate for Felix and adds ketchup on the side in the shape of a smiley face. He brings it to the younger with a fork and a napkin. It gets him a kiss on the cheek and a murmur against his skin asking him to come back soon. 

Moving a little faster now that Chan knows Felix definitely wants cuddles (maybe he could get a head rub too!), he picks up a piece of bacon and takes a bite of it when he starts to assemble his own plate. The second the meat hits his tongue, he spits it out into his hand as if he just took a bite out of a rotten apple. 

The texture of the meat made a shiver go down the back of his neck and it tasted like tree bark. 

_Did I never look at the expiration date? Maybe the meat went bad._

“How’s the bacon Lix?”

“Perfect! Thanks for making lunch again.” 

Chan looks down at his food and feels like he could vomit just by seeing it. It doesn’t sit right with him, something about all… this. He pushes his food around the plate he has already made and just decides to toss it. 

He throws it away in the trash as quietly as he can then moves to start cleaning up little by little, soaking the skillet and taking a paper towel to the counters. 

The smell of the bacon that is leftover from cooking lingers in the kitchen. It is strong enough to make his stomach cramp up, demanding he put _something_ in his body. 

Taking a deep breath in, Chan is hit with the smell of metallic. His heart races the second it enters his lungs and he feels his eyes open wider than normal. He turns his head quickly (faster than ever before) and looks directly at the package of raw bacon left out on the counter; _blood._

He walks towards it until the meat is right under his nose. His body clamps up the moment a wave of hunger hits his stomach. Chan’s hand shakes as it reaches for a slice, but he can’t stop, can’t pull away. His fingers touch the piece and it feels slimy. Normally touching raw meat is enough for him to feel queasy, but now. 

Now, Chan just wants to… eat it? 

The meat tastes like metal, the surge of blood that enters Chan’s mouth is enough to make him want to moan out. It’s texture is stringy, causing his jaw to work harder than usual. It’s good though and more importantly, it feels _right._

“Hey do we have any extras, I really liked the way you cooked the… bacon… ”

Chan’s head whips around to look at Felix, who is standing at the entryway to the kitchen, just staring at the blood on his hands. 

And that’s when Chan realizes what he has done. Looking down at the piece of meat in his hands, his stomach lurches. 

_What’s wrong with me, I felt fucking fine last night, but this morning— what’s wrong with me, what’s wrong—_

Suddenly Chan’s out the room, in a blink of an eye, throwing up in the bathroom.

  


  


**14:22**

And that’s when everything goes downhill. 

The bathroom tile finally cools Chan’s almost blistering skin. 

His eyes are back focusing on the popcorn ceiling as he continues to lay out like he is trying to make a snow angel. Chan’s shirt is off, on the floor somewhere along with his shorts. Even his underwear seems too constricting, but he has some sort of dignity left. Kinda. 

Chan isn’t too sure if he is able to pick out weird shapes on the ceiling, or if he is just halliculating. At least he isn’t standing anymore, it feels like he never will be able to again. 

Felix is… somewhere. He isn’t too sure where other than knowing that he is still _here,_ mostly because he can sort of hear him breathing. Maybe he is in the shower or against the bathroom door, Chan is too scared to lift his head up, knowing that if he does then his head will most definitely be back in the toilet. 

Even though he can’t see Felix, that doesn’t mean he can’t hear him once he finally speaks. 

“No… no calls. Don’t call anyone please.” Chan moans out quietly. He tries to lift a hand up to wave it as a sign to stop, but he can’t even feel his fingertips so his hand goes nowhere. 

“Don’t— _don’t call anyone?_ Are you fucking kidding me? Chris, you are on the floor! Sweating! You look like death and you don’t want me to call anyone?” Felix all but screams causing Chan to squeeze his eyes together. 

God, everything is so loud and he just wants the quiet, just a piece of it. The peace of it. 

“I’m fine.” His words slur as he tries to keep his voice as low as possible. 

Chan hears Felix’s phone click against the bathroom sink. The sound couldn’t have been louder than a needle hitting a table, but it echoes in and out of Chan’s brain like a chainsaw. He takes another deep breath in and enjoys that little piece of silence he gets right before breathing out. 

“You’re fine my ass, my God. How are you even still alive?” Felix mumbles sarcastically under his breath and Chan tries to laugh at the statement but ends up just coughing. 

A cold towel is placed lightly on his forehead, stunning him for a second, but Chan ends up relaxing just a moment after. It feels so good, so welcoming that he never wants it to leave. But only after a half minute, the towel is almost scorching against his damp skin. 

Felix shoves the thermometer back into his mouth. He wants to spit it out and tell Felix that it is just bullshit, that it’s broken and won’t do them any good. But he wants too long, it clicks and alerts the younger that it’s finished taking Chan’s temperature. 

“Stop turning your head, let me see it. Chan come on you big fucking baby— oh my God, you have a fucking 110 degree fever.” Felix gasps, the thermometer leaving his grasp and hits the tile out of shock. 

And it doesn’t take Chan long to hear his boyfriend fall to the ground too. 

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh fucking fuck Chan. You are gonna die like this, you are going to die. I need to get you to the hospital—”

“No hospital, please.” _They can’t help me and I don’t know why I know that. But they can’t, not this time._

“Do you want to die, do you have a death wish you idiot? You were fine this morning, you were fine. What went wrong.” Chan can feel Felix’s tears hit his chin. The younger is leaning over him, his head against Chan’s chest shaking. 

_How do I tell him it’s going to be okay,_ Chan wonders. His eyes are getting blurry and glazed over. He feels fine, mentally speaking. His head is right there, but his body just isn’t. Chan wants to scream, kick, _run._

He wants to run for miles and never stop. He wants to feel the breeze in his hair and feel how his feet hit the ground, maybe even spreading his toes in the mud. Chan wants to feel at home, but he doesn’t know where home is.

But he feels like he hasn’t been home in a really long time. 

“It’s going to be okay.” He whispers into Felix’s hair, taking another breath in and smelling the younger’s shampoo. He smells like the ocean and reminds Chan of the nights they laid next to each other on the beach under the stars. 

He wonders how close he is to the stars now.

“Chan, come on. Don’t do this, don’t please. Stay with me Chan, don’t close your eyes. Why did I ever listen to you, we should’ve gone to the doctor. Chan, please—” 

_I’m so tired though, just one minute of sleep is all I need. I’ll be right back, I promise._

And there is white noise. It races through his ears and into his brain. Chan feels his body shift, how his head feels so much bigger than before and his body smaller. His blood feels like fire in his veins and he wants to scream out. Something terrible is happening and if only he listened. 

If only he knew. 

Then it stops. 

Everything, is in slow motion. Time is standing, so still, that he can almost reach, out, and, grab, it. But suddenly there is a child and it looks exactly like him, but not really. Chan tries to reach him but is taken back when a giant _something_ gets in the way, protecting the boy. _Him._

And when it moves away, all Chan can see of the boy ( _him, that’s him_ ) is fur. 

The clock ticks, ticks, ticks, ticks, _ticks—_ then stops. Silence, just silence. Isn’t this what he wanted? 

Before Chan can make up his mind though— tick!

Chan sits up with a start. His head turns every direction as he tries to figure out where he just went. Was it up or down? Was it here or there? Did he die? Was he dead? Or was he just reborn?

“Chris, calm down. Look at me, come on look at me. _You’re okay._ ”

Five things he can see: two pairs of hands, the speck of dust in the far corner, the light from across the apartment, the fabric of the towel, and a whole bunch of freckles. 

Four things he can touch: the tiles on the floor, clammy skin, butterfly eyelashes, and way too long silver hair. 

Three things he can hear: two heartbeats, two pulses, two deep breaths.

Two things he can smell: sweat and tears.

One thing he can taste: blood. 

“It’s me, Felix. You’re okay, _we’re okay._ You’re safe.” Felix, God Felix, whispers into the side of Chan’s head. He can feel the younger’s fingers in his hair, scratching his scalp with ease. He rocks them back and forth, bringing Chan back to reality. 

_But where did I go?_

He stands up quickly and brings Felix with him. Chan didn’t realize he was in his lap until he came up with him. Felix claws at his shoulders in the effort of not falling on his ass, but Chan is able to put one arm under him to hold the younger perfectly snug against his chest. 

“Chan listen to me, okay? Just listen to me real quick— hey, stop moving. Don’t look in the mirror, not yet.” Felix’s hands rest on both his cheeks, pulling all of his focus on the boy in front of him. 

“I called your parents, you weren’t out long, just long enough for them to explain _everything_ and I just, I need you to know that I love you more than anything, always.” Then there’s a pair of lips against his own. They taste of salt, like tears. 

Felix puts one foot on the ground then the other, but he still holds Chan’s face tightly between his palms. He looks like he is at war with himself and Chan stares at him like he is invisible. 

With one last look, the younger tears himself away and walks out the bathroom. He stands right at the door and puts a hand against his mouth. And Chan looks up. 

Yellow eyes, coarse hair from temple to chin. All the hair that he shaved off just hours ago, back? A pair of… ears? _A fucking tail?_

He stumbles back from the mirror, his hands flail up and he sees claws instead of nails. And hair, and hair, and hair everywhere, but is it hair? Is it hair or is it— 

“Fur.” He murmurs, it’s fur. 

It’s all fur. 

His attention is pulled from his hands to Felix’s when his own cell phone rings. The sound is loud, but not as loud as it was before Chan… passed out? Died? 

Because this all feels like some sort of resurrection and Chan needs answers before he really starts to believe he's dead. 

“I think you should take this.” Felix hands him the phone and it feels so fucking tiny in his hands, but that isn’t the point. The point is that he needs to answer the phone.

**Caller ID: Dad**

  


  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ( **trigger warning for:** biting, eating raw meat, vomiting, pseudo-death but not really, a wack-ass sort of panic attack, blood is mentioned like a billion times, and other weird supernatural shit).
> 
> anyways, the goal is to finish this fic before halloween. we will see if that actually happens lololol.
> 
> [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/travelingsymphony)


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